Dancing Flames

~ 21 ~

The warrior woman assumed her original form of Devi Kaalratri appeared as she was impressed with Arjuna's valour.

"Arjun, there is no Kshatriya in three worlds equal to you." Maa Kaalratri spoke.

Arjun felt tears rolled down his face as he saw the divine form of the mother of three worlds, the form that made the darkest of nights safe. 

Maa Kaalratri gave Arjun the most destructive and mighty Pashupataastra with all knowledge related to it firing, withdrawing and others. She also taught him how to fire it with eyes or mind without using bow. 

Impressed by his deeds and hard penance she also gave him knowledge of 2 other forms of Dhanurveda. 

Similarly, she also appeared in different forms to his brothers. 

As the Goddess of Strength, Maa Durga, she taught Bheem the fundamentals of strength and it's importance in victory. She also broke his pride he took in his strength. 

In the form of Maa Sheetala, she gave the Madreya twins the knowledge of divine medicine, ways to treat most difficult wounds and bring someone back to life from the brink of death.

With their penances over, they were happy but worried about Arjun at the same time. 

"We have two days left, where is Arjun?" Shubhangini thought to herself. She was missing him a lot. She didn't show it, so as to not worry the four Pandavas as they themselves were worried about him.

She felt thirsty and walked towards the kitchen to drink water. Much to her surprise, there was no water. She quickly informed the Pandavas.

Nakul volunteered to bring water. He took a huge pot and left towards the lake.

Some time had passed, but he didn't return. Worried, Sahdev decided to check it.

Yudhisthir and Bheem were standing were standing near the door waiting for the twins. Shubhangini was sitting under the tree in their ground, when saw someone entering their hut.

Assuming it to be one of the twins, she rushed towards the door.

"Arjun." She screamed in happiness as she saw Arjun taking his elder brother's blessings.

Arjun was by her side at instance and lifted her up in air, "Shubha." He had missed her so much.

She touched his face, "You have grown so thin, I can feel your bones." Arjun merely chuckled at her observation. The last time he ate was dried leave two months ago.

"Where are my Anujs?" Arjun asked, and the eldest Pandav explained where the twins were.

"I shall go and check." Arjun replied.

The two elder brothers nodded and allowed him to go. Some time had passed and the three hadn't returned. That was it, Bheem lost his patience and decided to go.

Yudhisthir got real worried now, "If it was some human or demon or any illusory being, my brothers would have been able to handle it by now. It must be a greater danger." He spoke.

He handed Shubhangini his spear, "If we do not return by nightfall, leave for Dwarka in the morning. And do not reveal anything about us to anyone." He spoke.

"No. I'll come with you." She insisted, a few unshed tears laying in her eyes.

"No Shubha, your life is much more worth than ours." He said and left, unarmed.

She closed their hut door and walked to the tower, watching Yudhisthir leave. She clutched the spear tightly, she knew basic self-defense, she had some experience from hunting wild animals, but a few months when Jaydrath had kidnapped her, she had realized that she couldn't have a stand against trained human soldiers, thus the Pandavas taught her about real fight.

Her advantages were her small height, light body that she could move real fast, and her flexibility. If anyone were to attack her now, the maximum she could handle would be a handful of soldiers, but not if there were too many.

Without the Pandavas, she felt insecure and was worried sick. She didn't even blink much, what if someone came in when she blinked?

She felt horrible for being such a scared kitten, she should have been more stonger, she was the student of the 'Great Pandavas' 

She felt as if she was damaging their image by being a scared person. 

The fear of someone attacking her, and the pessimistic thought of her ruining the Pandavas made her cry. She felt pathetic.

"Be strong." She tried whispering herself, holding the spear.

She felt something on the spear and she carefully observed, something was written on it.

She read it carefully, "Courage is not the absence of fear but the triumph over it" She remembered in one of the lessons, Yudhisthir had taught her, how sometimes even he felt scared.

"Being scared is not pathetic. Fear is a human emotion." He explained, "You even I fear somethings at sometimes. But then, I try to fight it. Fighting and overcoming fear is the only way to get rid of fear."

Remembering his words, she felt a little brave.

»»--------------------------««

So yes, it was the Yaksh Pariksha. But I didn't show it, cause
(i) I wanted to show Shubhangini's perspective, and
(ii) we already know what is going to happen so you guys would skip that part while reading xD

What do you think is going to happen to Shubhangini~